PhD Studies in Data Science

The Barcelona GSE Data Science Center is looking for students with a strong quantitative background interested in pursuing PhD studies in a number of areas related to data science (DS): Statistics, Machine Learning, Probability, and their applications in Economics. The admitted students will join the Graduate Program in Economics, Finance, and Management (GPEFM) in the Department of Economics and Business at Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

About the Data Science Center

The Barcelona GSE Data Science Center coordinates and promotes interdisciplinary and methodological research, training, and knowledge transfer in Data Science. The Data Science Center community consists of leading academics, machine learning researchers from industry, and practitioners from the data science and analytics industry. The research group at the Data Science Center is leading in this area and has recently been recognized by several major funding bodies, for example, the BBVA grant in Big Data, and the Google Faculty Award.

The Data Science Center is part of the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, which is a leading institution for research and graduate education in Economics and the social sciences. The Barcelona GSE offers seven Master’s programs, including a Master’s in Data Science, coordinated by the Data Science Center. Read more about the DSC here.

About the Barcelona GSE

The Barcelona GSE was founded as an institution for scientific cooperation between four existing academic and research units with a long tradition of collaboration: Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica, Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra. It continues to focus on consolidating strong research groups across these four centers, of which the Data Science Center is an example.

About Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) is a public, international and research-intensive university that, in just twenty-five years, has earned a place for itself among the best universities in Europe. Awarded with a CEI label (International Excellence Campus) by the Spanish Ministry of Education, the University also figures in some of the most influential rankings UPF has recently been featured as the 5th fastest-rising young university in the world by Times Higher Education, while the Department of Economics at the university is consistently ranked in the top 40 QS World University Rankings by Subject.

The PhD studies in Data Science

The program is very competitive and most of the admitted students will have completed a Master’s in Data Science or one of the other Master’s programs offered by the Barcelona GSE.

The program consists of two stages. Successful applicants will be first admitted to the UPF's MRes program (60 ECTS). During this one-year program, the students will take preparatory Economics courses and write their Master Thesis. Subject to performance, students will be then admitted to the PhD program, which has no official coursework and lasts typically three years.

Those students that after the first term are conditionally accepted into the PhD will be offered a TAship for the rest of the academic year and will have a final fee waiver.

How to apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application before March 15, 2019. There is no application fee. Complete submissions will then be considered by an academic committee. The committee will take into account:

Academic performance (50%)

Strength of the research proposal (20%)

Reference letters (30%)

The admission period runs from January 15 to March 15. Final decisions will be communicated via email in April.

Requirements and Mandatory documents

The DSC requires standard documents for the MRes-PhD program application. Refer to the requirements and mandatory documents listed here.

For more information about the PhD studies in Data Science

Information on the PhD in Data Science is provided on the Barcelona GSE website on behalf of the Barcelona GSE Data Science Center. Please direct your questions about the program, admissions process, and scholarships to piotr.zwiernik@barcelonagse.eu.